Hampden house damaged by fire

Fire damaged a home being renovated on Western Avenue in Hampden on Monday night.

A Hampden Fire Department official said it was too early to determine what caused the fire, but he suspected that work being done on the plumbing may have sparked the fire that spread up a center “pipe chase” wall. Hampden Deputy Chief Mike Andersen said firefighters using a thermal imaging camera found the basement clear but discovered indications of fire above the kitchen.

Firefighters from the Bangor Fire Department discovered fire on the second floor and Andersen said the fire also had spread to the third floor. The fire was out by 11 p.m., although some smoke continued to come out through third floor windows.

The home, located a short distance from the intersection of Western Avenue and Route 1A between the Hampden Family Dentistry building and TDC Telecom apparently was unoccupied at the time.

Andersen didn’t know the extent of the damage to the building. Hampden police blocked off Western Avenue to traffic. In addition to Bangor’s assistance, the Holden Fire Department and was brought in to refill firefighter air tanks while the Winterport Fire Department covered Hampden’s fire station.

A Bangor woman was charged Monday with the theft of $83 from the wallet of a fellow employee at an Ohio Street vacuum sales company.

Officer Jeffrey Small reported that Jamie Ness of Bangor was summoned to appear April 23 at 3rd District Court in Bangor. Small said Ness denied taking the money.

A fellow employee told police that she and Ness had been working in the second-floor office of Kirby Vacuum, 341 Ohio St., and that after she had gone downstairs, she heard footsteps and then the sound of a zipper, like that on the wallet she had left on her desk, being undone. She returned to the office to find Ness standing by her desk.

Minutes later, she checked her wallet and discovered the money was missing. Meanwhile, Ness had asked her boss if she could go home early to baby-sit her sister and care for her parents. The boss commented to police that it was an odd request, since Ness had already asked to work an extra hour that day.

A Highland Avenue man told Bangor police Monday morning that he had returned home after a weekend away and found his stereo equipment missing.

The man said he suspected that his neighbor might know something about it and had gone next door to ask him about what had happened. His neighbor came out and struck him on the face without provocation, the man told Officer Tyler Leighton.

The neighbor, Michael Deshane, 31, said he knew nothing about the theft, but that he had argued with his neighbor and had chased him. Leighton summoned Deshane, charging him with assault.